


We Are More

by Rikku



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Bodysharing, Fluff and Smut, Light Angst, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Other, Praise Kink, Relationship Discussions, agender venom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 23:28:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16293950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikku/pseuds/Rikku
Summary: Venom accidentally triggers some of Eddie’s insecurities, but they know how to fix it.





	1. Chapter 1

Eddie hadn’t set out with a specific destination, just cruised his bike around the city. They’d ended up riding out by the sea for a while, sunlight on the water. As he brought them home he thought loud thoughts about road rules in the hopes something would stick.

Going for rides with Venom as a bonding activity just made sense. That fateful ride was when they’d first started really working together. Right now he hopefully wasn’t on the run from anyone, but Venom still pressed restlessly beneath his skin, urging him to go just a little bit faster, reminding him of everything that was possible. It was a harmless activity they both enjoyed. Eddie tried not to think the words _date night_ and was hopefully successful.

He stopped at the lights. A cat ran across the road, tail up and eyes intent. Venom stirred under his skin, and Eddie tensed.

“Don’t eat that,” Eddie said. Venom was silent, which was never a good sign, so he added, “You don’t know where it’s been.”

 **You miss cats,** Venom said, and Eddie blinked. **Should we get a cat?**

“Yeah, uh, sure,” and the light turned green. He slammed on the speed, smiling into the wind as they crested the hill. His mind caught up with the question. “Uh sure if you don’t _eat it_ , you big weirdo.”

Venom grumbled, slipping out of his arm and forming a thick black glove to show their discontent. **Wouldn’t eat a pet,** they said. **Want to make you happy.**

Eddie stopped at the next set of lights and ran his tongue over his dry lips. _Don’t think date night, don’t think date night_. “Right,” he said. “Why is that?”

**Your brain is sour when you’re sad. It’s disgusting.**

Eddie glared down at his arm. “Don’t eat my brain!” he said. “And if you have to, at least don’t insult it, dickbag.”

 **I won’t,** Venom said, sounding impossibly world-weary for a being that could be impulsive and demanding as a toddler. **You’re a good host. We’ve gone over this. Want you happy.**

That made it sound like he was failing them.

“I’m happy!” he shouted into the wind. The taxi driver next to him honked irritably, which was fair enough. Eddie shook a fist at him instead of giving him the finger.

At the light change Venom twisted the handles for him and accelerated them forward. Coming into the home stretch should’ve felt great. They could lie down on the couch and eat leftover takeout and channelsurf, just putting something on the tv to complain about it, same way he’d spent his last few nights, and it would be cosy.

But he wasn’t good enough for Venom, apparently, not happy enough, okay, okay. “You think I should get a cat?” he said a little doubtfully.

Venom jerked their shared shoulders in a shrug.

“I have a plant,” Eddie said, pulling in outside his building. He got off his bike and tugged off his helmet. Venom moved their arm, running Eddie’s hand through his hair, for no real reason Eddie could see.

 **Makes us look cool,** Venom explained. They added, **Your plant is dead.**

“You’re such a poser.”

Venom vibrated under his skin, just on this side of painful. **You can’t even keep a plant alive.**

“I know, I know.” He started up the staircase, happy to stretch his legs differently, though he’d be glad to rest when they were back. Venom could heal up most of his aches as easily as his wounds, but sometimes the sheer amount they pushed his body took its toll. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Just kinda nice to take care of something.”

**Yes, I know.**

Eddie unlocked the door and shoved his way in with relief, thumping his helmet on the top of the fridge, tossing his keys on the table. He stopped and frowned. “Hey! I’m not a plant.” There it sat in the window, very dead. That had been a worse time in his life, lonelier, before he had Venom.

He tried to sweep that thought under the rug too, but he was never quite sure how many of them Venom caught.

 **No,** Venom agreed. **You’re far more delicate. Hard to take care of.**

Eddie locked the door brusquely and swung open the fridge with a scowl. “Geeze, dude,” he mumbled. It actually kind of hurt. 

He reached his hand towards a beer. Venom jerked it to the side, extending thin tentacles out to grab the box of leftover noodles instead. Fair enough. **That is not your fault,** Venom said, almost comfortingly. **You come from a lesser species.**

Eddie fished for his chopsticks in the drawer, then gave up. Had to do dishes soon. It was hard to convince Venom of the point of dishes. He slouched to the couch and flopped out on it, shoes still on, ill-tempered.

**Stop sulking.**

“I’m not sulking.”

**Yes you are.**

“No I’m not.” Eddie fumbled the box open and lifted a handful of noodles to his mouth. He slurped on them obnoxiously, mostly to stop the argument. They could go all day like that sometimes.

 **It could be worse,** Venom said, and showed him a memory. The image was distorted and hard to make sense of, from their time in the Life Foundation, gleaming white all around: ahead warmlifepreyhost – a rabbit, small nose sniffing. Venom’s tendrils reached out, curious, but they already knew this creature would not do. 

“Don’t tell me what happened to the bunny,” Eddie said, faintly nauseous.

**I just left. The creature was fine.**

Eddie relaxed against the couch. “Oh.” He kicked his shoes off so he could settle his feet on the other end of the couch and shoved another handful of noodles in his mouth. He curled up, getting comfy. 

**Unsuitable host,** Venom explained, then added contemptuously, **Herbivore.** Parts of them seeped out from his shoulders, an odd prickling sensation, and curled against his skin solidly, reassuring, soothing – _beguiling_ Eddie wanted to say. **You are a much better host.**

So … On the scale of hosts, he was better than a rabbit. But he was still on the same scale. As a damn rabbit.

After a minute Venom said, **Eddie?**

He’d just been sitting there frowning vaguely into space. Eddie wiped his mouth. “Yeah, bud,” he said. The leftovers didn’t look too appealing. “Yeah. Thanks. That’s great.”

Venom hummed, a low, deep reverberation. They crawled around his shoulders, then got sidetracked, trickling down his arm, making for the noodles. Eddie held up the box for them to reach, and they slorped happily in, devouring.

Eddie patted idly at the nearest section and leaned back against the couch. This was fine, really. 

Venom finished the meal rapidly, then pooled over his fingers. Cleaning up the grease. “Gross,” Eddie said, affectionately. He crooked his fingers, beckoning, and Venom seeped back into him. Eddie sighed in relief.

 **Dishes,** Venom said, helpfully.

“We. _We_ should do dishes.”

They curled up comfortably in his chest, drowsy.

Eddie sighed and got up, shuffling over the floor, making a show of it. Once he got started it wouldn’t be so bad. Just had to turn on the tap. Put the dishes in. Scrub. Easy. People did it every day. He did it every day.

Sometimes he’d felt like he was just piloting a human suit around way before he even met Venom. Like everyone else in the world knew or had something he didn’t, had a secret, knew how to not screw up: like he was missing some vital piece, and everyone had been too embarrassed to tell him.

“Inferior species,” he said aloud. He felt Venom stir awake, and focused intensely on scrubbing the dishes. He mumbled, “Do you really think that?”

A section of his alien pushed out through his chest, just close enough to the sink. Eddie splashed it idly. They retreated rapidly, spilling around up onto his shoulder, leaning against his face. **Of course I don’t,** Venom said. They sounded sleepy, barely bothering, which was reassuring in a way. **I would die without you.**

“Mrmm,” Eddie said, and dumped a plate with the other dishes. They clanked together loudly and he winced. No. Nothing broke. It was fine.

He drained the sink and stood there a moment, then turned and beelined for the bathroom to brush his teeth. He didn’t really feel like a movie night. 

**Are you having emotions again.**

Eddie squinted at his leering reflection, huge milky eyes and ink-spill skin, teeth bared and glinting. “Yeah, uh-huh, it happens. You gotta deal.” He lifted the toothbrush listlessly. 

Venom cocked their head in the reflection, eyes fixed on him. **I will, as you say, deal.**

After a quick brush, Eddie worked the toothpaste around in his mouth, bent over the basin and spat. He washed his mouth out, splashed his face. Straightened, and slumped toward bed.

 **Of course humans are inferior,** Venom boomed in his ears, and Eddie sighed. He rolled his eyes as Venom continued, **But such things do not apply to us. We are better than them. We are more.**

Eddie held up one hand and made talking motions with it, _yada yada_ , dropping his arm quickly before Venom could decide to slap him with it. “Maybe you are.”

His body stopped dead in its tracks halfway to grabbing his clothes off the floor. Evidently this was important. Eddie sighed, but relaxed, because there was no point in fighting it, and hey, maybe Venom could help. Maybe they didn’t mean to be quite this much of a dick.

Venom pushed out of his neck, spiralling around to look him in the eye. **We are more than them,** they said, then stressed the word, tongue extending to lick slowly down Eddie’s face then pulling back: **WE.**

“I mean, just by being plural, sure,” Eddie started, and Venom rolled their eyes backward, and extended their tongue out again to drag over his lips. That was definitely just to shut him up. Definitely. His heart rate rocketed anyway.

Venom pulled back. **If you’re being stupid, I’ll just have to prove it.**

“Prove it how—”

Eddie cut off with an _oof_ as Venom manifested in front of him, slick tendrils snapping together to form a rough, vast humanoid shape, which picked him up and tossed him no-nonsense onto the bed.


	2. Chapter 2

Eddie lay on the bed where Venom had tossed him, blinking and breathless. Breathless for a lot of reasons. 

A hundred questions came to his mind, but he stifled them, watching as Venom shifted forward over him. Their shape slipped and changed, tendrils fusing back into him so just a torso remained hovering above him, eyes fixed on him intently. Eddie shuddered. “What’s …” he said then stopped with a swallow as Venom dragged their tongue slowly and deliberately down his jaw.

**I’m going to take care of you,** they said, smugness in their voice. They lapped their tongue delicately against his jaw, resting there a moment, teeth close to his pulse point and just barely grazing his throat. Eddie swallowed and knew Venom could feel it both from inside him and outside and god, that was too much to deal with right now.

Venom nuzzled at his throat then traced down to nip at his collarbone. Eddie inhaled sharply, trying to keep track of his thoughts. “You – you already do, babe,” he panted. The endearment just slipped out, impossible to take back.

They growled and closed their teeth around his throat. Gently, just resting there, but with their whole huge mouth around his throat, able to bite his throat out or bite his head off if they wanted, or clamp tight around his throat and _choke_. He froze, breath coming short, dick painfully hard against his jeans. 

Venom nipped, then drew back, slathering their tongue over his neck. **Not enough. You’re unhappy.**

Eddie swallowed. He couldn’t handle emotional talk and whatever _this_ was, not at the same time. “Not … not because of you, I just – ahh—” Venom’s weight shifted backward, settling down over his hips, pinning him down more securely and providing blessed contact against his groin. He bit his lip hard, digging his fingers into the sheets to keep from bucking up into them.

**We can make you happy,** Venom purred, low and in his head. They formed a hand and dragged it down his face in a caress, then dug under his shirt, tugging it down to expose his throat. **You are more than them. More than you think you are. You are ALL I need.**

It was sweet, and in that possessive growl of theirs it made Eddie swallow. Not actually true, though. “You need flesh—”

**Mmmmm,** Venom said in a steady slow rumble. Hands were all over him, tendrils, touching and pressing. That weight shifted back off his hips to slide hands and fingers underneath his clothes, pulling his shirt up and off, the air cold against his already hot and sweaty skin. More tendrils probed at his jeans, making quick work of the buttons, pulling his pants off with more an air of impatience than relish. He lay nearly exposed. Eddie closed his eyes, hunkering in his shoulders.

Venom slowed. They stroked filaments over his sides and gently down his thighs, slow and reassuring. **What do you want?**

Eddie opened his eyes to see that _face_ above him, eyes vast, teeth glinting. All as Venom stroked and pet at him, calming and riling him up all at once. “I—” he stammered. Oh, god, everything, this and more than this and just this forever, but he couldn’t just say that.

Venom bent their head, pressing their forehead to his, then slipped out their tongue. Eddie opened his mouth automatically, moaning into the contact, but they barely kissed him, just sliding in, in, back under his skin and into him, still present outside his skin in a hundred stroking tendrils. **Never mind,** Venom said from inside him. **You’re too shy to tell me. I know what you like.**

Eddie shivered.

**Eddie, Eddie,** Venom sighed, his name in that rough grating voice, rattling down his spine. Eddie bit his lip, and a section of Venom lifted from his skin to press against his lips. Eddie opened his mouth and they probed in, running over his lips, teasing at him. At the same time Venom stroked over his stomach, his chest, toying at one nipple then slipping past, sliding over his thighs, not quite touching him where he ached to be touched. Not yet. **My Eddie. My good host. My good boy.**

He shuddered at that. The tentacle probing at his mouth grew larger, thicker, big as three fingers held together, and Eddie opened his mouth to it. It roamed his mouth, stroking over his tongue, pushing in. **We’ll take care of you,** Venom crooned. **It’s just us. Just us. We can give you all you need.**

“Uh-huh, uh – that’s—” Eddie mumbled around the tentacle in his mouth, which withdrew. He pouted after it, though, and Venom chuckled low and deep in his bones, and teased at his lips once more. More tentacles joined the thin tendril, filling his mouth, casually, and he sucked in relief: something to do, easier than thinking. 

Venom shifted up and out of his skin, towering over him, and dug their hands into his shoulders, claws digging in. Holding him down. He’d missed this kind of end to date night – no, he couldn’t think about that.

**Stop,** Venom said. Tentacles withdrew from his mouth. 

Eddie closed his mouth and ran his tongue over his lips, obediently, sat up a little so he could look at them. Venom slid their shifting liquid form into just a head, vaster than his, scowling at him. **Why can’t it be date night?**

His chest squeezed at the innocence of the question. “Because we’re not … we’re not together.”

**WE ARE ALWAYS TOGETHER,** Venom roared, their displeasure immediate and deafening.

Eddie reached out a hand to the air, seeking to reassure them. Venom reared their head back. “Yeah, I know, buddy, always. You and me forever, don’t worry.” He held out his hand entreating, palm-up, and Venom at last grudgingly pressed up against it. Eddie sighed in relief and rested his hand on their head. “I mean we’re not together … romantically.”

Venom shook their head. **We are together in all ways.** They pressed against his palm and seeped in, coating his arm thick and black. Eddie tensed his fingers, frowning unhappily into space.

“But not that one,” he said. “You don’t …” He trailed off. 

**But you want us to be?**

“Maybe,” Eddie said. He ran his fingers through his hair. _Yes, god yes._ He pushed the thought down stubbornly. Their bond went both ways, and he couldn’t force someone into this with the sheer force of wanting, he wasn’t going to hurt someone close to him, not again. “Don’t let that influence you.”

They rumbled, displeased. **We want what you want.**

Eddie tugged at his hair so hard his eyes watered. “Exactly!” he said, frustrated. He wriggled back in the bed, leaning his back against the pillow. “It’d be real shady of me to—” 

**And we want _you_ ,** they rumbled, and a thin layer of Venom spread out over his skin, all over him, gleaming and viscous. 

“Thanks,” Eddie said, mouth dry. “But you can’t just – I know you want to cheer me up, but you can’t just—”

Venom seeped up into his mouth, flooding it. Eddie blinked and fell silent. **I want that and you and this,** Venom said, and vibrated lightly, all over him, present all over his skin: Eddie arched up into it, biting his lip, but his lip was all Venom-covered, slick, flavourless. The substance retreated somewhat and Venom said, **I want everything.**

They spread over him and pressed him down, lightly. Just a hint of a shove, just a suggestion, but Eddie shifted his shoulders and laid back down, trying hard not to think about quite how biddable he was – but did it matter? Maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe it was fine. Venom wanted this too, maybe wanted him the way he wanted them.

**Eddie,** Venom said, concentrating in his arms, pulling his boxers off roughly. The texture of the Venom-covered skin caught and tugged at the rest of his skin, a strange feeling. **We’re HUNGRY.**

Eddie felt his mouth curve up into a grin, as a few tentacles gripped the clothes and tossed them far off to one side. “Pushy,” he murmured. Venom eased him back down, running tendrils over him, dancing over his skin, and Eddie arched up into the touch. “Yeah, okay, yeah—” He swallowed his pride, and Venom hummed over his chest, stroked his neck, spread his thighs wide. “Yes, Venom, _please_!”

Venom formed a head up out of his chest, and they had to know he liked that, liked being able to look at them, they were so good to him. They leaned forward and slipped their tongue into his mouth, slick and wet, trailing spit. His own hands, covered in shadows and tipped nearly in claws, stroked at his cock just once, teasing, and he moaned as they dug into his thighs, claws biting in. _Pinching_ at his flesh.

**Happy now,** Venom mused, and some tentacles extended, ruffling fondly at his hair as Venom stuck their tongue deep deep down his throat, licking eagerly in. **All you needed was us.**

“Yeah, need you—” Eddie gasped. Venom forced his arm to one side, slamming it against the mattress as though to brace them up. Eddie barely had a second to wonder why before the main mass of Venom coalesced at his legs and pushed them apart effortlessly, wider, broader. Venom’s head pulled back for just a moment, tilting to one side, looking at him and inviting Eddie to look at himself, spread open and eager as clawed hands squeezed his ass. The hands slipped into a dozen stroking tentacles, light and slick, some stroking at his entrance, other sliding over his oversensitive skin, soothing the new bruises. “Need you so bad, baby, please!”

A chuckle of amusement. Venom pinched at his ass, toying with him, then that hand departed briefly, though others whispered and hissed over his skin to soothe and stroke at him. **You are incoherent like this.**

“Sorry—” he gasped. “Sorry, you, you’re so—” He broke off with a moan as Venom slipped tentacles into his mouth, twining together, probing into his throat. Eddie gagged then sucked, eyes closing with effort. He could be good.

**I like it.** Eddie grinned, then tensed, shuddering, as the hand returned and pushed at him, sliding, changing into a tentacle that pushed into him, slick with lube. He hadn’t even heard the drawer open. Venom was good.

His mouth was full of Venom, slick and pushing, and Eddie sucked, hollowing his cheeks, liking how Venom expanded their tentacles out to fill the space. _So good to me, baby,_ he thought as loud as he could.

**Yes.** One strand rocked up and into him, penetrating him. Eddie tensed, then relaxed slowly onto it as the tendril stroked lightly at him, retreated, whispered in again. He pushed hesitantly down into the contact, and Venom crooned low in his ear, deep and approving, so Eddie ground back against them shamelessly, gasping out at the feeling, slick and not quite filling him enough. 

It was too much, and he shifted his hand, reaching for his cock – and his hand was pushed back, slammed down against the sheets with fingers clenched. Eddie whimpered, straining his muscles, unable to touch himself not _allowed_ to. Venom slid over his thighs, pooling on his skin, tracing over his stomach, his chest, exploring his body with tiny delicate touches as that one small tendril pushed into and out of him.

Venom teased him like that for what felt like minutes or hours, opening him up slow, slow, so slow and sweet. At the same time their form shifted over Eddie’s body, slow, taking their time, like a thousand whispered caresses. Venom coiled around his throat, slinky and familiar, then kissed him again, with tongue again, and Eddie leaned up into it, desperate, even as his hips were held down. He whimpered into the kiss. Venom slathered his tongue with spit, slicking their vast tongue over his mouth then his whole face. 

They descended, licking at his neck like they wanted to eat him, then exploring his chest, tongue trailing, pulling back as Eddie tried to arch up into the touch, leaving him gasping and touch-hungry and grinding helplessly down into them, starting to whimper, rhythmic, in time with Venom’s insufficient thrusts.

After half an eternity of slow torturous pleasure Venom manifested over him more physically, a weight pinning him down, that familiar muscular shape that had once looked like nightmares. Venom felt good, so good in him and whispering at him and touching him, and Eddie reached up a hand to cling to the inky mass.

Venom slammed him back down against the bed. They nipped sharply at his ear, drawing blood.

**Taking care of us.**

Eddie whined low in his throat, arching up into the lack of contact. “I want—”

To touch, to hold and be held and be fucked and felt, to feel, he wanted a thick body holding him down, wanted to dig his fingers into an obsidian sea that parted beneath him and held him helpless. To hold them and touch them, his oil-slick lover, his most perfect shadow –

**Next time,** Venom said in his ear.

Eddie groaned, grinned as the slow, teasing touches resumed. “I’m gonna hold you to that, baby. Oh, babe, that’s—” and he broke off into a moan as Venom pushed into him again, another tentacle joining the first, then another, sliding in and out of him slow, so slow, but at different times, in and out and then another still. One hit hard into his prostate and he bucked up, moaning aloud. A pair of claws gripped his hips and pushed him back down into the bed again, the better to be fucked – Eddie panted, grinding into the grip – _yes_ he thought, _yes and yes and yes_. 

Venom curled an appendage behind his neck, nudging his head forward, and Eddie looked. He groaned at the sight of himself spread wide open with thin and thick tendrils diving in and out of him, fucking him wide open, like half of hell was having their way with him.

**Me,** Venom growled and pounded harder, all at once, one thick mass coalescing and slamming into him. Eddie gasped and bucked up, whining, and Venom let him this time. They slid their tongue into his throat and fucked into him properly, hitting into him hard, and again, and again, and Eddie whined, pushing up fruitlessly into a body that wasn’t there. 

“ _Venom_ ,” he begged, not even knowing what he was asking for. They hummed in his mind, rattling in his skull, slipping down his spine, their tongue in his mouth, in his everything, in him, inside, keeping him safe, keeping them safe, “Venom, please, please.”

**You’ve been good,** Venom said, and licked his ear, fondly. He felt them sliding, slipping. The – the tentacle, the cock, the pure _force_ that was fucking into him still did, again, and again, making him whine and whimper, but some of Venom slipped up, shifted and moved, tracing over his cock and encasing it in a thick black sheath. He stared down fascinated.

**Touch me,** Venom suggested, silky smooth.

“But that’s – that’s,” Eddie said, fascinated, delighted, because it was them over him, both of them together. He laid his hand on his thigh hesitantly, ready for Venom to tease and jerk his hand away. Venom licked at his ear, then slid their tongue into his mouth, thoroughly claiming it, and Eddie swallowed them down and stroked himself off. He made a stroke, ragged and hasty. He made the next smoother, more controlled, flicking at the tip. Venom curled around his shoulders and purred approval in his mind, and fucked into him hard enough it felt like he was splitting apart.

Eddie shouted, hips jerking up, fucking up into his hand, and he made a loose fist and ground into it fast, desperate and moaning, as Venom fucked up into him, hitting against him hard. They could spread inside him, all through him if they wanted, could fuck him through all his organs and out through his throat if they _wanted_ and sure that would hurt but it would be worth it, going so deep their cock met their tongue – and as he thought that Venom thickened, somehow, grew larger still, filling him, a slow slick stretch, an ache but a good ache, enough, more than enough, too much, too much.

He was being fucked to an inch of his life and he was stroking off Venom, or stroking off himself, and it felt like nothing on earth, Venom’s substance shifting and smooth under his hand, and he could feel his cock underneath it, just, touching himself, but he could feel Venom’s pleased hum, not quite a hum, like a _feeling_ , stretching out through him, like contentment, like praise. He felt both at the same time and it was driving him mad. 

Venom pushed up into him and his eyes rolled back and he groaned. “Venom, _Venom_ ,” he gasped, and Venom’s tongue flicked out of his mouth, darting over his lips, before dragging over his throat, slow, hungry, and Eddie moaned into their touch. Them, them, them all over him and into him again and again. “Love you so much, so much, Venom, never leave, oh, love you—”

**You are _mine_ ,** Venom hissed with teeth at his throat and slick cold skin laid over him, and thick tentacle grinding up mercilessly into him, and Eddie cried out and came wildly, convulsing with it. Instead of spilling onto his hand he came into Venom, their skin surrounding his cock, and it wasn’t suction exactly but felt like they were absorbing him, somehow, drinking him down, and Eddie shook, whimpered. He might have come again just from that if he could, and maybe he could, because together they could do anything, impossible, unstoppable. 

He lay shaking, eyes closed, drifting on it. The thick limb pressing up into him eased slowly. He his lip at the feeling, strange but not unwelcome, as the section of Venom that had formed that monstrous cock dispersed into him, mingling out through his bloodstream, his organs, his veins. 

Spreading up into him, like how he’d wanted. They were everything he could ever want. More than he could imagine. So much more than he deserved – but then, they’d spoiled him pretty rotten. And he did his journalistic work just fine, these days, and he paid his bills and he fed Venom what they needed. Maybe he deserved at least a piece of this strange and twisted and utterly wonderful joy.

**Now he gets it,** Venom said.

Eddie smiled vaguely, too blissed out to be annoyed. He stretched out on his sheets. They were sweat-stained, but nothing worse, and a shower could wait till morning. The bed felt empty with just him in it, and he reached out an arm vaguely. 

**You know I’m here,** said Venom, sounding a touch annoyed, but they slid out of his skin anyway, a mite slower than usual, like they’d been enjoying some version of afterglow too. Eddie curled his arm around this extension of them, hand settling on their skin. He shifted so his face rested near theirs. Venom extended their tongue to give his face a good lick.

“Gross,” Eddie said. They knew he didn’t mean it.

Venom grinned across at him, all teeth and glimmer. **On our next date I want to climb the bridge.**

Eddie winced and pushed at them half-heartedly, making sure to pull them back in afterward. “Only if you cover up my eyes, hon.”

They both lay there enjoying the mental images brought on by those words.

**Next time,** Venom said, and if the words had the certainty of an order Eddie certainly wasn’t about to complain.

“Yeah,” he breathed. “Yeah.” A few tendrils extended out of his skin to drape around his shoulders, just that little extra bit of contact. Eddie snuggled up into the touch and sighed contentment.

**Because we are together,** Venom said. Slowly, as if to make sure he got it, which was adorable. **As a symbiotic partnership, and as dating.**

Eddie smiled, drifting off, safe and held and loved in every part by every part of them. “Yeah,” he said, “yeah, I like that.” He yawned. “I like that.”


End file.
